So just a heads up, nothing really major or super important happens here. Just Alex meeting some of the 13 because I really gotta allocate some screetime(I say this yet Mei's only had like less than 10 lines of dialogue😭).

Unless you consider Alex meeting new FCs important in which case good for you. 👍

Either way, please enjoy.

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After his battle against the sim Kevin and his sudden and brief interaction with Aponia, Alex decided to take a few days off and return to the real world to cool his mind and relax for a while.

Seeing as he had nothing left between his current level and Mei's he figured that he'd use the time wisely and take that break now before eventually reaching her.

As expected, nothing had really changed much in the outside world as Alex would frequent most of his time exchanging conversation and information with Raven, even informing her that he had gotten into battle with the past version of Kevin and despite it ending in a tie, was able to walk away from it fairly unscathed.

Needless to say, Raven was a little impressed though was quick to check down Alex's confidence by saying that the Kevin of the present day is far stronger than what he was in the Previous Era and that the same result was absolutely not gonna happen now.

The boy obviously understood that and knew better not to get ahead of himself.

The break would zip by fast as soon enough, the boy would return to the Elysian Realm through the usual hallway that lead him to the entrance after the brought flash of light would send him there.

Upon arriving at the entry way stairs and walking up them, Alex was back at the main lobby where he saw Elysia off by the couch talking to someone Alex hadn't met yet.

The elf girl quickly noticed his presence as she waved and called out to him.

"Welcome back Alex~!" She said as the person who she was speaking to turned around to face him as well.

It was a fairly tall adult woman with loose, long red hair and deep/dark yellow eyes along with a golden hairpin that went from her left side to the back of her head along with a golden chain lead to a brown bow as she also wore an earring on that side.

The girl wore a dress akin to a stage costume as it was ornamented with gold, and had a long and billowy skirt. The color of her outfit was a night brown with red accents on her sleeves and pendant, the bottom of her skirt  was also red, and there were patches of white on her torso and at the end of her sleeves.

The latter extended into the shape of a flower held down by another gold pin, as lastly the girl also wore black tights and a black glove on her right hand.

"Is this the boy you've been talking about often?" Asked the girl as Elysia nodded.

"Yep! That's the one." She said.

The girl would approach him, offering a handshake as Alex accepted.

"It's a pleasure to meet you young one. My name's Eden." She said.

"Nice to see you too, Ms. Eden. Name's Alex." He responded.

"I hope you've enjoyed your time spent here so far."

"No worries, I have. I've been taking some breaks here and now so I don't tire myself out. I'm just now returning from a break after a few days. Got someone to catch after all."

"The Herrscher girl, correct? Elysia's been pretty high on you two's progress. Keep it up." Said Eden with a smile before suddenly whispering to Alex's ear. "You had an audience with 'her', didn't you?"

The boy was initially confused before quickly realizing she was referring to Aponia as Eden whispered again.

"If you're wondering how I can tell, it's because she left a mark on you." She said.

Alex immediately panicked and began to feel all over his body as the red haired girl har a small laugh.

"Relax. It isn't a physical marking. It's more like a subliminal one. I can sense her presence on her." She said as Alex sighed.

Not wanting to be freaked out any further, Alex decided now was the time to return to the dungeon excursions as he excused himself before entering the main rift, officially beginning today's activities.

Now that he was on what Elysia referred to as the second section of floors, the enemy variations were definitely much tougher but it wasn't anything Alex couldn't handle.

As the boy proceeded onwards through his first run of this new section, he came across a resting area around the mid way point however this one had a key difference compared to the others he had seen.

Just off to the side was a small shopping stand, reminiscent of ones you'd see in the middle alleys of an outdoor mall.

Seeing this just randomly here definitely intrigued Alex as he approached it though the items on display were ones that he had no clue on what they were.

As he continued to inspect them stand, he heard a voice from up above.

"A-A customer!? Just wait one second!" It shouted.

The boy looked up and noticed a figure quickly sccurying down a tree nearby as they hastily ran up to and stopped before him.

It was a girl with light brown hair that was tied up into several braids as she had two different colored eyes, her left being blue and her right being light green.

Her outfit was quite lavish as well as her hair as she wore a fancy hairband with several adornments along her head as her bangs were exceptionally long, reaching the bridge of her nose.

She also had cat ears and a tail which Alex assumed was a side effect of the Honkai-DNA merger as one of her ears was covered by a gilded tip and her tail was covered in what appeared to be Honkai beast carapace.

The girl wore a small black top and short skirt as attached to her neck was a white cat-eared hood, from which hung four large cat paws.

Attached to her skirt was a cat paw emblem and several purple sashes with star-like symbols on them. On one hand she wore a black and purple glove while on the other, she wore single-fingered sleeve that reached her upper arm as lastly, She wore tall black-and-white heeled boots with gold details.

"Welcome welcome! Is there anything you're interested in!?" She said excitedly, her eyes practically beaming.

"U-Uh........"

"O-Oh right sorry mind my manners! I should introduce myself first. The name's Pardofelis but most people call me just Pardo or Felis. Feel free to use either or. Now then, interested in a purchase?"

Again, the cat girl now known as Pardofelis seemed eagerly insistent on wanting Alex to buy something but the boy, after assessing the situation, finally gave a response.

"Sorry but I was just passing by and spotted this little stand. I'm not interested in anything. To be frank, I don't even know what any of this stuff is. My apologies." He said, about to leave to the next floor until Felis grabbed his hand, preventing him to leave.

"Aww come on please! I keep failing to convince that other guest to buy my items! You're my only hope!"

"Other guest?"

"Yeah! She's really tall and has horns on her head." Said Pardo as Alex immediately knew she was referring to Mei.

'I'm not surprised she'd turn her down numerous times.' He thought.

"I know who you're talking about. She's a friend of mine." He said.

"That must be why you aren't interested right!? Because she informed you beforehand!"

"Nope. I'm just genuinely not interested."

"PLEASE! I-I'll give you something free as a starter deal!"

Truthfully this girl was starting to annoy Alex either her insistence but hey, she was offering something free so at the very least, he wouldn't be scammed out of any currency.

"Alright alright fine. What's the free item you're willing to give me?" He asked.

The cat girl's eyes quickly lit up again as she ran to the back of her shop, rummaging around a bit before bringing out a box and handing it to him.

"This here is a box of very important materials. What they are I don't know."

"................then why do you have it?"

"I obviously can't just leave it laying around out and about, duh. Anyways, take it back to the lobby. I'm sure it'll be in safe hands there."

'Guess I'm doing a sudden courier job now.' Thought Alex.

The boy was very hesitant on going through with this and again it was free so there was really no negative from this.

"Before you go, what's your name kid?"

"Alex."

"Alright, I'll be sure to thank you next time. Bye!"

The two waved one another goodbye as Alex continued on with the second half of the excursion.

Trying to manage his battles while also taking care of the box was definitely a little difficult but Alex was able to manage the situation and soon he had reached the end of the current run as package in hand, still unscathed, returned to the lobby through the rift.

Upon first arriving, he saw Elysia and Mei seemingly engaged in a conversation with a third person, though it was more like the elf girl was the one in conversation as Mei had a clear look of wanting the chat to be over with.

The boy would wave hi at her as she'd notice and was about to wave before noticing the box in his hands and quickly was motioning for him to leave.

This led Elysia to notice as she had a faint gasp, which led the third person to turn around and see what had caught their attention.

It was a girl that had the appearance of a child, one not that much older than him as she had long, curly green hair that extended to her waist and green-pinkish colored eyes which had thin shaped pupils, resembling a snake's eye as at the back of her head, there was a contraption that draped four black belts and on her forehead, she wore a black crown.

She wore a sleeveless tight black dress detailed with green and gold as on her left arm, she had a loose semi transparent sleeve and a black glove while on her right arm she, had a long black glove with three green claws that were located on her thumb, index, and middle fingers.

Lastly, she had a gold earring dangling from her right ear and she was oddly barefoot as she had no shoe wear at all.

The snake like girl eyed Alex for a while, the boy getting an almost uneasy feeling from her gaze as she spotted the box in his hands before a smirk slowly donned her face.

"Well well well, it looks like the thief has willingly slithered his way to the snake's clutches~." She said in a sinister tone.

"T-Thief!?" Shouted Alex, almost insulted by her remark before his mind wandered back to the box in his hands, as he pieced the whole situation together.

'THAT FUCKING CAT GIRL FRAMED ME!?'

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Alex found a way to get scammed without even needing to cough up any money. 😭

Chapter 13: Complete